Artistic Director of Opera Lafayette

Nov 08, 2017

Ryan Brown

Artistic Director of Opera Lafayette

Mr. Brown is the founder, conductor and artistic director of Opera Lafayette. Through his work with Opera Lafayette, he has gained an international reputation for his interpretations of French opera and for his role in the revival of significant works from 18th and 19th centuries. His repertoire and discography of over ten recordings for Naxos include operas by well-known 18th-century composers (Gluck and Rameau) as well as rediscoveries of their contemporaries (Sacchini and Rebel/Francœur), works which exemplify traditions established in the 17th century (Lully and Charpentier), and those which point the way toward the music of the 19th century (Monsigny and Grétry). He was most recently and widely lauded for the modern premiere and recording of Félicien David’s 1862 Lalla Roukh, a seminal work of musical orientalism. Mr. Brown’s frequent performances of Italian works by Haydn, Mozart, Paisiello and Cimarosa have also met with great acclaim. He was raised in a musical family in California and performed extensively as a violinist and chamber musician before turning his attentions to conducting. His teachers included Dorothy DeLay and Gustav Meier. In 2014, Mr. Brown returned to the Opéra Royal in Versailles, leading Opera Lafayette in Philidor’s Les Femmes Vengées and Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. In 2015, he conducted Vivaldi’s Cantone in Utica at the Glimmerglass Festival. Mr. Brown is a recipient of La Médaille d’Or du Rayonnement Culturel from La Renaissance Française.